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Founding

Overview

The founding of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs has been at the behest and impetus of the Founder, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku, and has proceeded as follows:

History and Founder

— The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs was established:

Founding Institute
in 2022 by its sole Founder and Director, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku.
Founding Entities
as part of ongoing work he has carried out for over three decades, leading also to his founding of The Ikoku Charitable Trusts, The Ikoku Foundations, The Ikoku Group, Publiks Inc, and Humana Sancta.
Founding Fulfillments
with the understanding that, where appropriate and authorized solely by the Founder, these distinct and independent entities will endeavor to coordinate efforts toward the fulfillment of their respective missions, purposes, and service to their respective communities.

Concerns and Commitments

The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs was also founded and developed in response to the concerns below:

Concern for Africa
— the Founder’s abiding concern for and longstanding commitment to Africa.
Concern for Diasporas
— the Founder’s abiding concern for and longstanding commitment to the global diasporas of Africa, in the Americas, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.
Concern for Common, Coexisting Societies
— the Founder’s abiding concern for and longstanding commitment to communities and societies coexisting in common with Africa and its global diasporas, abiding by principled ways of coexisting humanely.
Concern for Ethics
— the Founder’s abiding concern for and longstanding commitment to issues pertaining to ethics.
Concern for the Human, Humane
— the Founder’s abiding concern for and longstanding commitment to issues pertaining to the human and humane, with the Founder’s insights from such concern proving valuable during several periods, preceding and during the formation of The Alvan Ikoku Institute, where he was subject to a set of inhumane behaviors that entailed persistent, pervasive and profound violations of the confidentiality and privacy, freedom and liberty, independence and integrity, and, ultimately, sanctity of his inner being, body, and brain, as well as inner self, soul, and spirit.*

*for further regarding these discriminatory and inhumane behaviors, see Inhumane Behaviors

Concern for Difference
— the Founder’s abiding concern for and longstanding commitment to issues pertaining to difference, with the Founder’s insights from such concern proving valuable during the aforementioned periods, able to elucidate that — as also experienced by others — such inhumane behaviors depend upon and employ notions of human and perceived difference (including those pertaining to birth and citizenship, culture, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, and sex) to elicit active and passive support for persistent, pervasive and profound violations of a person’s humanness.*

*for further regarding these discriminatory and inhumane behaviors, see Inhumane Behaviors

Mission and Purposes

— The Alvan Ikoku Institute’s founding mission and purposes are therefore:

To Foster
— to foster foreign, global and international affairs, interest, knowledge, and policy concerned with Africa, its global diasporas, and common and coexisting societies of enduring concern to the Founder.
To Serve
— to serve a range of communities touched by the Founder, including through disciplines in which he has trained and practiced.
To Fulfill
— to fulfill its mission and purposes as a faith-aligned organization entity, abiding by the basic principles and practices of the Humana Sancta Faith (the “Humana Faith” and “Sancthumanism”).
To Succeed
— and to succeed in developing an organization entity — as well as communities — where the aforementioned behaviors are considered inhumane, as well as unnecessary, and so do not become or remain the means for any act or activity, benefit or good, product or service, mission or purpose.
World on Fabric, March 2020 (Jack Stapleton)

Focus

Provision

The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs has also been developed, and its activities and administration focused, as follows:

Activities and Administration

— All official activities, agents, arrangements, and assets of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs are administered solely via the Founder, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku, and solely via the Founder’s authorization, as provided for in the Codes and Policies, and thus appropriately focused to ensure their alignment with the mission and purposes of the organization entity.

— The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs’s overall administration, as defined in the Codes and Policies, is similarly focused and conducted solely via means limited by The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs’s entity status as:

Faith-Aligned
a faith-aligned organization entity.
Independent
an independent organization entity.
Non-Governmental
a non-governmental organization entity.
Non-Political, -Partisan
a non-political and non-partisan organization entity.
Non-Public, Private
a non-public and private organization entity.
Philanthropic
a philanthropic organization entity.
Single-Interestholder
an organization entity whose interests and equivalent are wholly held and owned by its sole Member and Founder, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku.
Single-Member
an organization entity wholly owned by its sole Member and Founder, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku.

Areas and Efforts

As further described in Areas of Focus, The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs administers its efforts via seven (7) areas of focus:

i. Civics | Governance
ii. Education | Information
iii. Media | Technologies
iv. Public | Sphere
v. Public Affairs | Practice
vi. Public Affairs | Study
vii. Public Affairs | Teaching

Faith and Spirituality

— The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs’s faith-based commitments are focused in the following manner:

Humana Faith
that none of its activities, agents, or arrangements come in conflict, in any way, with the Humana Sancta Faith (the “Humana Faith” and “Sancthumanism”) — as administered, defined, interpreted and governed solely by the Founder, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku, serving as sole Founder and Presiding Fellow of Humana Sancta.
Sanctity of Human
that such nonconflict with the Humana Faith align with a belief in the sanctity of each human being as-is.
Sanctity of Human, Being
that such nonconflict with the Humana Faith align with a belief that the confidentiality and privacy, freedom and liberty, independence and integrity, and, ultimately, sanctity of each human individual’s inner being, brain, and body, and inner self, soul, and spirit — as well as attendant rights to such — are inalienable, sacrosanct and thus absolute.
Sanctity of Human, Mind, Self
that such nonconflict with the Humana Faith align with a belief that the confidentiality and privacy, freedom and liberty, independence and integrity, and, ultimately, sanctity of each human individual’s mind and activities with the self — as well as attendant rights to such — are inalienable, sacrosanct and thus absolute.
Sanctity of Protection
that such nonconflict with the Humana Faith align with a core purpose of the organization entity to always ensure that the Founder, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku, enjoys the highest level of, provision for, and protection of the above confidentiality and privacy, freedom and liberty, independence and integrity, and, ultimately, sanctity — as well as attendant rights to such — and the humane respect and treatment that fully recognizing his humanity requires.

Incompatibility with Founding

— The activities, agents, and arrangements of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs are therefore focused and limited via determinations of incompatibility with the organization entity, as delineated below:

i. Notwithstanding Proviso
firstly, notwithstanding any provision of the Codes and Policies, or applicable law or regulation, no activity, agent, or arrangement of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs may, in any way, be or remain
i-a. Notwithstanding, In Conflict, Founding
in conflict with the Founding of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs or the Governance of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs, as described in the Codes and Policies (respectively, the “Founding” and the “Governance”).
i-b. Notwithstanding, In Conflict, Faith
in conflict with the aforementioned faith-based commitments.
i-c. Notwithstanding, Infringement, Policy
an effector or facilitator of any infringement of the Codes and Policies.
i-d. Notwithstanding, Inhumane Behavior
an effector or facilitator of any of the aforementioned inhumane behaviors.
ii. Adjudication of Incompatibility
secondly, any such activity, agent, or arrangement — as well as any advantage, benefit, information, or property attributed to it — is to be adjudicated solely by the Founder as incompatible with The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International AffairsC itself as well as its founding, governance, and overall administration.
iii. Determinations of Incompatibility
so thirdly, each activity, agent, and arrangement relating to The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs is subject to the following determinations of incompatibility
iii-a. Determination, Incompatibility, Activities
where the Founder determines that an activity has been, is or will be, in any way, an effector or facilitator of any conflict with the Founding or Governance, any conflict with the aforementioned faith-based commitments, any of the aforementioned inhumane behaviors, or any intentional violation of the Codes and Policies.
iii-b. Determination, Incompatibility, Agents
where the Founder determines that an agent has been, is or will be, in any way, an effector or facilitator of any conflict with the Founding or Governance, any conflict with the aforementioned faith-based commitments, any of the aforementioned inhumane behaviors, or any intentional violation of the Codes and Policies.
iii-c. Determination, Incompatibility, Arrangements
where the Founder determines that an arrangement has been, is or will be, in any way, an effector or facilitator of any conflict with the Founding or Governance, any conflict with the aforementioned faith-based commitments, any of the aforementioned inhumane behaviors, or any intentional violation of the Codes and Policies.
iii-d. Determination, Incompatibility, Persons, Natural
where the Founder determines that a natural person has been, is or will be, in any way, an effector or facilitator of any conflict with the Founding or Governance, any conflict with the aforementioned faith-based commitments, any of the aforementioned inhumane behaviors, or any intentional violation of the Codes and Policies.
iii-e. Example of Persons, Natural
as has been determined, among natural persons, in the cases of Eleanor Marie Brown (AB, Brown; JD, Yale) of Jamaica and the United States of America; Rafael Nadal Parera of Manacor, Mallorca, Spain; Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro of Funchal, Madeira, Portugal; and Jeff Williams of Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, California, United States of America;
iii-f. Determination, Incompatibility, Persons, Legal
where the Founder determines that a legal person has been, is or will be, in any way, an effector or facilitator of any conflict with the Founding or Governance, any conflict with the aforementioned faith-based commitments, any of the aforementioned inhumane behaviors, or any intentional violation of the Codes and Policies.
iii-g. Example of Persons, Legal
as has been determined, among legal persons, in the cases of Leland Stanford Jr University of Palo Alto, California, United States of America and The New York Times Company of New York City, New York, United States of America;
iii-h. Determination, Incompatibility, Persons, Political
where the Founder determines that a government, political, public or state authority, entity, office, or person has been, is or will be, in any way, an effector or facilitator of any conflict with the Founding or Governance, any conflict with the aforementioned faith-based commitments, any of the aforementioned inhumane behaviors, or any intentional violation of the Codes and Policies.
iii-i. Example of Persons, Political
as has been determined, among political persons, in the cases of appointed and elected officials and representatives at the city, county, district, state, and national levels and political organizations of San Francisco, California, and the United States of America;
iv. Incompatible, Unauthorized, Unqualified
fourthly, subsequent to the Founder’s determination of incompatibility, such activity, agent, arrangement, or person is to be deemed unauthorized and unqualified — entailing, where applicable, the revocation of any authorization or qualification — to be an activity, agent, arrangement, or person of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs, in any capacity, especially that pertaining to decision-making, leadership, membership, stakeholding, or voting, and in any way, including as part of its administration, or as a recipient of any assets, contract, funding, properties, support, work, or equivalent.
v. Reporting, Directly, Fully Informing Founder
and upon discovery by any person of any indication, instance, or possibility of incompatibility, such person must directly report to and fully inform the Founder of such issues.
vi. Founder as Sole Adjudicator
with the understanding that the Founder is the sole person with powers to conduct inquiries, investigations, and other proceedings regarding such issues and make adjudications and determinations of compatibility or incompatibility, confirmed and executed only via the Founder’s authorization.
vii. Notwithstanding Lawfulness
with the further understanding that, as made evident by the notwithstanding provisos, the lawfulness of a given act, activity, agent, arrangement, or equivalent does not preclude its incompatibility or its infringing, inhumane or equivalent nature in relation to The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs, to be determined solely by the Founder.

Inhumane Behaviors

— The aforementioned inhumane behaviors include those delineated below, and are to be absent from any and all activities, agents, and arrangements relating to The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs – and not effected or facilitated in any way or via any manner, means, method, or mode, or to any degree, that is discriminatory, harmful, unconsented, unethical or unlawful:

Broadcasting and Exhibition
the broadcasting, dissemination, exhibition, or transmission of a human being or of a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent.
Care and Treatment
the care, medication, therapy, or treatment of, on or with a human being.
Communication and Meeting
the communication to or meeting with a human being.
Conservatorship and Wardship
the conservatorship, guardianship, oversight, supervision, or wardship of or over a human being or a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent.
Education and Training
the education or training of, on or with a human being.
Experimentation and Research
the experimentation, observation, research, or study of, on or with a human being.
Harassment, Pervasive and Persistent
the pervasive and persistent harassment of a human being.
Interference and Intrusion
the interference with or intrusion into, as well as frustration and hinderance of, a human being or a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent.
Monitoring and Recording
the eavesdropping, device detecting and listening, monitoring, recording, spying, or wiretapping of a human being or of a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physi-cal or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent.
Prediction and Timing
the prediction or timing of a human being or of a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent.
Stalking and Surveillance
the following, stalking, surveillance, or tracking of a human being or of a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent.
Work and Servitude
the coercion, engagement, employment, forcing, indenture, or manipulation of a human being into bondage, labor, service, servitude, slavery, or work, or the rendering of such labor, service, or work as unpaid or unremunerated when it is agreed, expected, or typically done to be paid or remunerated.
Denial of Autonomy
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s autonomy, rights to autonomy, or protections of such.
Denial of Consent
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s consent, rights to consent, or protections of such.
Denial of Confidentiality
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s confidentiality, rights to confidentiality, or protections of such.
Denial of Dignity
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s dignity, rights to dignity, or protections of such.
Denial of Due Process
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of due process for a human being, rights to due process, or protections of such.
Denial of Equality
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s equality, rights to equality, or protections of such.
Denial of Liberty
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s liberty, rights to liberty, or protections of such.
Denial of Liberty of Thought
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s freedom and liberty of thought, rights to freedom and liberty of thought, or protections of such, including to thinking freely, by, to or with oneself, in silence or in voice, with absolute confidentiality and privacy, without detection or dissemination.
Denial of Privacy
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s privacy, rights to privacy, or protections of such.
Denial of Private Control
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s private control of life, labor or property, rights to private control of life, labor or property, or protections of such.
Denial of Private Labor
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s private labor or work, rights to private labor or work, or protections of such.
Denial of Private Life
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s private life, rights to private life, or protections of such, including to any private emotion, feeling, idea, moment, or thought.
Denial of Private Property
the denial, diminishment, infringement, or violation of a human being’s private property, rights to private property, or protections of such.
Coordination, Withholding of Information
the withholding of basic, fundamental and necessary access and information from a human being regarding the aforementioned inhumane behaviors as they are directed at, impact, or otherwise concern or relate to that human being; thus the denial of a human being’s opportunity to understand and undo these behaviors, prevent or reduce their effect, or seek redress; and the conduct of such withholding while providing other persons a surfeit of access and information regarding the human being and the aforementioned inhumane behaviors as they are directed at, impact, or otherwise concern or relate to that human being.
Coordination, Targeting
the coordination of activities, agents, or arrangements to target a human being or a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent.
Coordination, Sporting
the coordination of activities, agents, or arrangements to sport with a human being or a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent, including betting, chasing, competing, gambling, gaming, hunting, toying.
Coordination, Retaliating
the coordination of activities, agents, or arrangements to direct retaliation, revenge, scapegoating, or vigilante action or justice against a human being or a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent.
Coordination, Ostracizing
the coordination of activities, agents, or arrangements to frustrate, hinder, impede, preclude, or otherwise prevent a human being from personal, social or work advancement or engagement, including banishing, banning, blackballing, blacklisting, blocking, cancelling, censoring, deplatforming, isolating, marginalizing, mass hysteria, moral panic, ostracizing, scaremongering, stigmatizing, vilifying.
Coordination, Meaningfulness
the coordination of activities, agents, or arrangements to diminish, hinder or preclude meaningfulness as to confidentiality or privacy, consent, decision, intent, or will of a human being.
Coordination, Majoritarian Tyranny
the coordination of activities, agents, or arrangements to collectively or publicly choose, decide, or vote to have a human being or a human being’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent, be subject to any of the aforementioned inhumane behaviors.
Coordination, Conditions
the coordination of activities, agents, or arrangements to effect or insist that the aforementioned behaviors become or remain conditions of affiliation, association, existence, life, service, support, or work for a human being, where they are not said conditions for other human beings.
Discrimination Based on Difference
and the reliance on notions of human and perceived difference (including those pertaining to birth and citizenship, culture, ethnicity, gender, race, or sex) in beginning or continuing the aforementioned behaviors and their ultimately discriminatory effects.

Intrinsic Refusals

— In light, therefore, of all of the aforementioned, incompatibility with The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs entails the following basic refusals, each intrinsic to the basic humanity, humanness, and humaneness of each human being, including the Founder, and to the reciprocity, recognition, and respect such humanity requires:

Basic Refusal of Aforementioned Behaviors
that The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs and the Founder resolutely refuse to give any agreement, authorization, consent, license, permission, or equivalent — or to waive any such decision or attendant rights — for any of the aforementioned behaviors, in any manner or way, via any means, method, or mode, to any degree, under any circumstances, for any period, or for any perceived benefit, end, goal, good, interest, mission, need, objective, purpose, reason, or equivalent.
Basic Refusal of Use as Means to an End
that The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs and the Founder resolutely refuse to give any agreement, authorization, consent, license, permission, or equivalent — or to waive any such decision or attendant rights — for any access or use of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs or the Founder, or any of the The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs’s or Founder’s activities, affairs, assets or properties, physical or physiological facets or functions, speech, thought, work, life, or any equivalent, with the effect or intent of construing, employing or otherwise using the Founder — or any human being — instrumentally or utilitarianly, or as a means or medium, toward the ends of any another person or any association, community, polity, public, or society of persons, in any manner or way, via any means, method, or mode, to any degree, under any circumstances, for any period, or for any perceived benefit, end, goal, good, interest, mission, need, objective, purpose, reason, or equivalent.
Basic Refusals as Principle
that these two basic refusals — at once human and humane — together constitute a fundamental limiting and restricting principle, and wherever there is conflict or question, legally override and supersede any conflicting clause or interpretation of any alleged, assumed, construed, presumed or otherwise made or understood agreement, arrangement, article, authorization, bylaw, code, consent, contract, guideline, law, license, permission, policy, principle, provision, regulation, right, term, or equivalent.
World on Paper, Kiev, Ukraine, July 2019 (Marjan Blan)
World on Textile, Avila Beach, CA, USA, July 2020 (Tim Mossholder)
World on Wood, May 2019 (Brett Zeck)

Form

Provision

The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs’s organizational form is as delineated below:

Formation

— The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs is formally organized as a philanthropic organization entity, currently under the aegis and administration of The Alvan Ikoku Philanthropies — a division of The Alvan Ikoku Group LLC — and in partnership with The Chinyere and Chinelo Ikoku Foundation and The Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku Foundation.

Names

— The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs is also officially known under the business names, The Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku Institute, The Alvan Ikoku Institute, and The Ikoku Institute. All four names, as used in official Ikoku Institute documents, products, services, and sites, refer to the same aforementioned organization entity.

Conclusion

— Conditions and Terms

— All of the above and aforementioned in this section constitutes the Conditions and Terms of Founding of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs (the “Conditions and Terms of Founding” and “Conditions of Founding”) and forms an integral part of the Conditions and Terms of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs, the Codes and Policies of The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs, as well as The Ikoku Institute Conduct and Service Agreement you may enter into with The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs.

— Concerns and Questions

— Please report any concerns about code or policy violations, and send any questions you may have regarding the Conditions of Founding or The Ikoku Institute Conduct and Service Agreement, to policies@ikokuphilanthropies.com.

— Concluding

— And as a concluding aviso and proviso, you are informed as well as reminded that by commencing or continuing any conduct or service relating to The Alvan Ikoku Institute for International Affairs — in any way, either directly or indirectly, and via any manner, means, method, or mode — you enter into The Ikoku Institute Conduct and Service Agreement and agree to abide by and be legally bound by the Policy conditions, principles, protections, and terms described above, and the Codes and Policies, in their entirety without modification or severability, as amended from time to time solely by the Founder.

World on Arm, Dayton, Ohio, USA, 2017 (Don Ross III)
World in Fingers, June 2022 (Kelly Sikkema)
World on Table, Belton House, Grantham, United Kingdom, June 2018 (Nicola Nuttall)
World in Palm, Marianne's Palace, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki, Poland, August 2017 (Michal Lomza)

Also at the Institute

The Ikoku Institute is dedicated to affairs of foreign, global and international concern as they pertain to interest, knowledge, and policy — in Africa and across the globe. And so in accordance with the above, the Institute provides the following:

I.

Global Interest

An institute that studies and serves foreign, international and ultimately global interest in Africa and co-existing polities — via attention to issues in governance, industry, law, and politics that affect lives and societies across and within borders.

II.

Global Knowledge

An institute that seeks to advance foreign, international and ultimately global knowledge of Africa and co-existing polities — via attention to issues in education, information, and research that inform lives and societies across and within borders.

III.

Global Policy

An institute that furthers foreign, international and ultimately global policies for Africa and co-existing polities — via attention to constitutional, cooperative, and covenantal forms and reforms that govern lives and societies across and within borders.

More About Us

The Ikoku Institute